Israeli air strikes have killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in an area in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced, Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials say.
Health ministry spokesman in Hamas-run Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qidra, said most of the injured were women and children.
Gazan authorities and medics say the displacement camp had been designated by Israel as a “safe zone”.
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The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound on Sunday in Rafah with precise intelligence, and civilian casualties were under review.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties, and that other hospitals were also taking in a large number of patients.
The final death toll was unclear, as many wounded were in critical condition, medics said.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a “massacre”, holding the United States responsible for aiding Israel with weapons and money.
“The air strikes burnt the tents, the tents are melting and the people’s bodies are also melting,” said one of the residents who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, said the attack “shows once again that nowhere is safe”.
“Dozens of wounded and more than 15 dead people were brought to the trauma stabilisation point that we support,” MSF added.
The attacks come days after a top United Nations court ordered Israel to stop attacking the city and allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening his war cabinet later on Sunday to discuss continued operations in Rafah.
Israel argues that the International Court of Justice ruling allows room for some military action there.
Israel says it wants to root out Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area.
But its assault has worsened the plight of civilians and caused an international outcry.
Israeli tanks have probed around the edges of Rafah, near the crossing point from Gaza into Egypt, and have entered some of its eastern districts, residents say, but have not yet entered the city in force since the start of operations in the city earlier this month.
Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says.
Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Efforts to agree to a halt to the fighting, and return more than 120 hostages, have been blocked for weeks.
But there were some signs of movement this weekend following meetings between Israeli and US intelligence officials and Qatar’s prime minister.
An official with knowledge of the matter said a decision had been taken to resume the talks this week based on new proposals from Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and with “active US involvement”.
However, a Hamas official played down the report, telling Reuters: “It is not true.”
Netanyahu’s war cabinet would discuss the new proposals, his office said.
Israel has faced calls to get more aid into Gaza after more than seven months of a war that has caused widespread destruction and hunger in the enclave.
-With CNN